Voting-machine.



No. 658,771. Patented Oct. 2, I900. 0.. A. GATRELL.

VOTING MACHINE.

(Application filed July 29, 1899. Renewed Apr. 12, 1900.)

(No Model.) 5 Sheets$heei l.

No. 658,77I. Patented Oct. 2; I900.

. 0. A. GATBELL.

VOTING MACHINE.

(Applicnion filed July 29, 1899, Renewed Apr. 12, 1900.) (N0 Model.) 5Sheets-Sheet 2.

| 1; i: i 32 I 11* L 6 I 7 N0. 658,77l. Patented Oct. 2, I900. 0. A.GATRELL.

VOTING MACHINE.

(Application filed J'uly 29, 1899. Renewed Apr. 19, 1900.2 (No Model.)

5 Shoets8heef 3.'

No. 658,771. Patented Oct. 2, I900. 0. A. GATRELL.

VOTING MACHINE,

(Application filed July 29, 1899.. Renewed Apr. 12, 1900.)

5 Sheets-Shah 4..

(No Model.)

co. woTouTua, WASHINGTON. n c

No. 658,77l. Patented Oct. 2, I900.

O. A. GATRELL.

VOTING MACHINE.

(Application filed July 29, 1899. Renewed Apr. 12, 1900.) (No Model.) 5Sheets-Sheet 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

O'ITMAR A. GATRELL, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF TlVO-TIIIRDS TOEDlVARD B. HARANG AND LEONARD F. BENOKENSTEIN, OF SAME PLACE.

VOTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,771, dated October2, 1900.

Application filed July 29, 1899. Renewed April 12, 1900. Serial No.12,633. (No model.)

To 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTMAR A. GATRELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Golumbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Voting-Machines; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my present invention is to provide an improvedvotingmachine in which the parts are of simple, economical, and durableconstruction, easily assembled, and reliable in operation.

My invention consists of the constructions and combinations of partshereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown an embodiment of myimprovements, Figure 1 is a front view with the up per right-hand cornerand the top casing broken out, showing some of the interior constructionand arrangement. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, parts being broken out toshow the interior construction. In this View two keys are shown, one ofwhich is pushed in. Fig. 3 is a top plan View, partially in horizontalsection, to show the interior mechanism. Fig. 4: is a detail view inside elevation, on a large scale, showing a push-key, its operating,locking, and releasing mechanism. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the same.Fig. 6 is a perspective view of akey-bar and the looking and releasingmechanism. Fig. 7 is a side view of a tape-operating key. Fig. 8 is asectional view, on alarge scale, taken through the front wall of machineand showing the slotted register-guards.

Like characters of reference in the several views designatecorresponding parts.

1 designates the frame or case of the machine. Arranged in vertical rowsin the case are push-key bars 2, having their outer ends, which protrudethrough holes in the front of the casing, provided with push-buttons andwith springs to hold the keys normally withdrawn. The vertical rows ofthese keys are designed for the nominees of differentpolitical parties,and they are so arranged that the various nominees of the differentparties for the same office occur in the same horizontal row. The innerends of the keys are supported upon and pass through the rear wall of anangle or channel bar 3, supported horizontally between the side walls ofthe casing. The keybars 2 are formed in their upper sides at their innerends with notches 2 and 2" and are provided at their under sides with awedge-shape projection 2, for the purpose hereinafter explained. Hingedupon a shaft 4, extending horizontally between the sides of the machine,is a flat bar 4, having pins P. The bar 4 hangs opposite the inner endsof each of the horizontal rows of keys 2, so that when any key is pushedin the said bar is pushed rearwardly. Pivoted on the rear wall of thechannel-bars 3, so as to swing in a plane parallel to said wall, arelatches 3. These latches are so arranged that they are supported by thepins 4: when the bar 4. hangs down and so that they drop into the notch22 of the key pushed in and into the notch 2 of the keys not pushed in.hen a key has been pushed in, the engagement of the latch with the notch2 prevents any further movement of said key either inward or outwarduntil the machine is reset for voting, and when the latch has droppedinto the notch 2 the key cannot be pushed in until the machine is reset.

In order to prevent the pushing in of more than one key in anyhorizontal row, I arrange in the channel of the bar 3 a series ofhorizontally-movable blocks 5, having their adjoining ends beveled, asindicated in Fig. 5. These blocks are yieldingly held together bysprings 5, located between the end blocks and the casing, (see Fig. 3,)and the blocks are so placed that the spaces between them are oppositethe wedge projections 2 on the push-keys 2, and when a key-bar is pushedin the blocks separate and allow the key to move through to operate thelatch-releasing bar l; but the blocks in the channel are of such lengthand number that one key only can be pushed through to operate either thelatch-releaser at or the register hereinafter referred to.

To reset the machine, I arrange between the hinged bars 4 and thechanneled bars 3 a frame composed of vertical strips 6 and a paper iswound from a spool 13, being passed horizontal strip 6, uniting theupper ends of strips 6, and on the vertical strips 6 are pins 6 toproject under each of the latches 3 The frame 6 6 is arranged to bemoved vertically; but it is normally depressed by coilsprings 6, betweenit and the top of the easing, so that pins 6 shall not interfere withthe operation of the latches 3 when dropped to lock the keys; but whenthe machine is to be reset the frame 6 6 may be raised by the operationof the cords 6, passed through the top of the machine to lift thelatches 3 out of the notches in the key-bars, and when a latch is liftedfrom a notch 2 of a key pushed in the spring on the outer end of the keyretracts the key to its operative or voting position.

Each of the key-bars is furnished at its upper side with a roller-stud 2and journaled vertically in the frame adjacent each vertical row of keysis a tubular shaft 7, provided with fixed curved arms 7, arranged sothat when the shaft 7 is rocked in one direction they shall throw allthe keys in a vertical row inward, and journaled on a fixed shaft 8,arranged horizontally in the upper part of the machine, are be1lcranklevers 8, each having one arm protruding through a slot 1 in the frontwall of the machine and provided with a handle and the other armconnected by a drag-link 8 with a pin 8 on the shaft 7. By pulling downon the protruding arm of a bell-crank lever 8" all the keys in avertical row may be pushed in. This operation votes a straight ticket;but a straight ticket cannot be voted in any party if one or more keysin another party-row have been voted, because the looking out of any ofthe keys prevents the operation of the straight-ticket shaft 7.

Each of the push-keys 2 is furnished with a pawl 2 to operate a registerof any suitable kind, the figures on said registers being preferablyvisible through slots 11 in curved strips 11, extending across the frontof the machine, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 8.

The names of the several party nominees are printed on strips of paper 9held behind glass plates 10, secured between the vertical rows of keys,the paper obscuring the register until removed by proper authority.

In the right-hand part of the machine I have shown provision for votingfor persons whose names are not printed on the regular tickets. For eachoffice there is a key and apparatus like that indicated in Fig. 7. Thebody of the key is substantially like that and wedge projection 2; butthe front part designated 2, it also having notches 2 and 2 of thekey-bar is formed with an arched portion 2 having pawls for engaging aratchet 12 on the head of a paper-winding spool 12. The pawls in thearched portions act on the said ratchet when the key -bar is retracted,

while the pawls in the bar proper act on the ratchet when the key bar ispushed. The

around small rollers 14, journaled just above and below an opening inthe front of the casing. WVhen the voter wishes to vote for a personwhose name is not printed on any of the regular tickets,he writes thename through the slit. In order to prevent possible abuse of thisprivilege, the paper may be printed in black and white bars and thepaper arranged. on the spools,so that when the key is out a black barstands across the opening, and it is incumbent on the part of the voterto push in the key to bring down a white bar upon which the writing willbe legible. Vhen the machine is reset, the pawls in the upper part ofthe key bring down a black bar, so that each voter voting in this way isrequired to push in the key before he can vote for a person not on anyof the regular tickets.

In addition to registers for indicating the number of votes received byeach nominee I provide a register of any approved form operated by theshaft at the top of the machine, from which the resetting-frame isoperated to indicate the number of voters voting at any election. Theoperation of this shaft may also effect the operation of a bell, asindicated at the left-hand side of Fig. 1. Both the register and bellmay be inclosed in suitable casings, as indicated in Fig. 1.

l/Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a voting-machine, a series of pushkeys arranged in horizontal andvertical rows each having two notches and a Wedge-shaped projection, theanglebar 3, the movable blocks 5 supported on the angle-bar and operatedby the wedge-shaped projections, and the pivoted latches 3 totransversely engage notches, with means for holding all the latches 5 ofeach horizontal row disengaged until operated by a key, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a voting-machine, a series of pushkeys arranged in horizontal andvertical rows each having two notches, latches pivoted to swingtransversely into said notches, a movable plate 4 for each horizontalrow carrying pins 43 to hold said latches disengaged from said notchesuntil pushed by one of said keys, substantially as described.

3. In a voting-machine, a series of pushkeys arranged in horizontal andvertical rows each having two notches and latches pivoted to swingtransversely into said notches, a movable plate carrying pins for eachhorizontal row to hold said latches disengaged from saidnotches untilpushed by one of said keys, and means for simultaneously disengagingsaid latches from the notches, substantially as described.

4. In a voting-machine, a series of notched push-keys arranged inhorizontal and vertical rows, latches pivoted to swing transversely intosaid notches, a movable plate 4; for each horizontal row carrying pins4- to hold said latches disengaged from said notches until IIO pushed byone of said keys, substantially as described. I 5. In a voting-machine,paper-rolls 12 an 13, one of said paper-rolls having a ratcheted head,aspring-actuated key-bar having a twopart frame with reversely-actingpawls to engage said ratchet whereby paper may be wound from one roll tothe other on both inner and outer movement of the key, as shown anddescribed. 10

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OTTMAR A. GATRELL; WVitnesses:

GEORGE M. FINGKEL, GEORGE W. ALFORD.

